What a difference a day makes: The day after the U.S. Senate failed to pass votes to end the partial U.S. government shutdown, Congressional leaders worked out a temporary spending bill with President Trump on Friday.
The three-week agreement to re-open and fund government operations goes through Feb, 15 and includes no border wall funding, as the president wanted, while negotations continue.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson of East Cobb, one of six Republicans who voted Thursday for a Democratic bill that didn’t get a two-thirds majority of votes, hailed Friday’s actions. His office issued the following statement:
“I’m glad the leadership of the House and the president have come to an agreement and hope that we can now sit down and negotiate in earnest to secure our border and get the government back in operating order.”
Ga. Senator David Perdue, a Republican from Warner Robins, said the following:
President Trump just announced a bipartisan solution to reopen the government while border security negotiations continue. We still have a crisis at our southern border, and President Trump is exactly right to address it. I applaud the President for continuing his efforts to enter into good faith negotiations with Democrats in the House and Senate.
Many Democrats have previously supported border security. Unfortunately, throughout this process they’ve clearly demonstrated they want to keep immigration a political issue instead of finding a real solution. If Democrats refuse to come to the negotiating table to tackle this national priority over the next three weeks, President Trump will do what is necessary to protect America.
Ultimately, this situation underscores the total dysfunction of Washington’s funding process. These conversations should have been completed last year, not four months into this fiscal year.
Trump made an announcement about the temporary deal at the White House early Friday afternoon. That followed news from the Federal Aviation Administration that flights were being grounded at East Coast airports, including LaGuardia in New York, due to shortages of air traffic controllers, and causing delays elsewhere
They were among the many thousands of federal employees who have not been paid during the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history at 35 days.
Last week, Isakson had expressed concern that the shutdown would adversely affect plans for the Super Bowl, which is being played next Sunday in Atlanta.
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